THE Creative Economy Council of the Philippines has drafted a road map that aims to make the Philippines the top creative economy in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by 2030.
“[B]y 2030, the Philippines will be the number one Creative Economy in ASEAN in terms of size and value of our creative industries, as well as the competitiveness and attractiveness of our creative talent and content in international markets,” according to the road map as quoted by the Department of Trade and Industry in a statement on Wednesday.
The initial scope includes six cultural domains — cultural and natural heritage; performance and celebration; visual arts and artisan products; books and press; audio-visual, broadcast and interactive media; and creative services. Other related domains include tourism, and sports and recreation.
Trade Undersecretary and BoI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo suggested shortlisting at least five sectors from the cultural and related domains for a more “granular” focus and “doable” approach in drafting specific action plans of the road map.
CECP Founder and President Paolo A. Mercado identified advertising, film, animation, game development and design (specifically graphics and digital design) as among the five priority sectors to come up with specific action plans.
The road map is expected to further develop the country’s creative industries particularly its high-value services that provide major contributions to the GDP, such as tourism, Information Technology — Business Process Management and other creative services.
It can also serve as a tool towards achieving a sustainable creative economy amid rapid marriage of physical and digital technologies brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0).
Among the policy recommendations in the Creative Economy Roadmap include declaring “creativity” as a national priority via law; mapping; measurement of priority creative industries for accelerated growth in domestic and international markets; encouraging and incentivizing the development of creative hubs and creative clusters as places for incubation, production, education and research and development; pushing for the development and recognition of “Creative Cities; promotion of new models of creative tourism that will enhance the country’s image and promote sustainable tourism: and prioritizing creative education programs to strengthen the country’s creative workforce to become the “Creative Education Capital” of ASEAN.
In addition, Mr. Rodolfo recommended a definition for what makes u[p a “creative economy.”
He also proposed the creation of a body, composed of the Board of Investments, Export Marketing Bureau, and CECP, to be tasked with implementing the road map.
A technical working group (TWG), to include the Department of Tourism, Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, was also proposed.
Mr. Rodolfo proposed exploring the benefits of TESDA’s “voucher system” and DTI’s Shared Service Facilities (SSF) Project.
He also added that road maps for animation, game development, and film headed by their respective associations will complement the creative economy and once these are in place, could benefit from tax incentives under the upcoming strategic investments priority plan 2020 — 2023.
The CECP has been seeking the identification of creative industries as special economic zones in order to benefit from fiscal incentive packages enjoyed by current economic zones.
Under the road map, the CECP is hoping to locate in one to five SEZs within the 2016 to 2020 period; five to 10 from 2020 to 2025; and over 10 by 2030.
At present no creative industries cluster has been identified as an SEZ by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority. — Janina C. Lim
